Physics Colloquia
I will review constraints on dark matter nature like, i.e. the dark matter free streaming, in the context of structure formation by using hydrodynamical simulations and observational data sets. In particular, I will focus on ordinary matter that does not shine in between galaxies: the intergalactic medium.
I will show that the most competitive constraints on warm dark matter (with a non-negligible free streaming) can be obtained from the main manifestation of the intergalactic medium, the so-called Lyman-alpha forest produced by neutral hydrogen in the filamentary cosmic web.
Moreover, I will show quantitative constraints on neutrino masses, comment on other dark matter scenarios (scalar dark matter, dark matter interacting with baryons or radiation) and assess the prospects of 21cm intensity mapping in addressing dark matter nature.